Shopping and Teachers
by Percyjacksonfan3
Summary: When Percy has to go out shopping for his mom he runs into an old teacher. Does Mr. Nicoll remember when Percy snapped and called him an old sot right before being expelled? Hopefully not! And what does Percy think when he sees the man with his family? Read and find out, it's a short story but pretty good!


**This fic was inspired by Starly910 everyone! I hope you all enjoy it!**

**Dsclaimer: You guys know it as well as I do, this belongs to Rick Riordan folks, not me! **

"Percy?"

Sally Jackson's voice floated from the kitchen to her son, who was laying on his bed with textbooks from 5 different subjects spread out around him.

He shot up, eager for any excuse not to study for the finals coming up in a week. In his opinion he had already studied more than his brain could take and now the words seemed to be taunting him instead of just floating off the page like usual. Luckily Percy was doing better in school this year and if he completely flunked his finals (which he had a high chance of doing) he wouldn't be held back.

He may even scrape up a C as his average. Annabeth would be horrified at his flippancy when it came to his grades but Percy wasn't too bothered. He did the work as best he could, what more could people expect of him?

"Yeah, mom?" He called back.

"I need a couple more things for the dinner party tonight and I need to get ready, do you mind running to the store and grabbing them real quick?" Sally asked her son.

He jumped off his bed and grabbed a sweater before making his way to the kitchen. His mom was standing there digging around for money in her purse and Percy smelled the stew she was cooking simmering.

"Sure, I can go get them." Percy replied.

She looked up and swiped back a piece of hair that had fallen in front of her face. "Thanks so much dear, it should only take less than half an hour." She rummaged around her purse some more before pulling out a twenty dollar bill and handing it to him. Then she set her bag on the counter and walked to ruffle his hair while handing him the list. "Be safe."

He rolled his eyes but kissed her on the cheek. "Of course, mom, who am I gonna see? The only danger is if I run into one of my old teachers. Who knows what they could do to me now that I'm not a student in their school."

Sally frowned. "There was that ..."

He sighed. "It'll be fine." He patted his pocket. "Besides, I always have Riptide."

She nodded but still had an anxious look on her face. "Just hurry back."

He refrained from rolling his eyes again. "I will. Just go get ready, mom, it's just a trip down a couple blocks. And like you said, it won't even take a half hour."

She nodded. "Of course, you're right." But as she turned around to head to her bedrooom she stopped. "Oh!" She exclaimed, before grabbing a stray pen from the counter and taking the list from his hands. "I almost forgot..." She scribbled something on the list before folding it and handing it back to him. "There. That should be everything."

He took the list and stuffed it in his pocket along with the money, not even looking at it to see what she had just wrote. "Bye mom!" He yelled after quickly kissing her on the cheek again and hurriedly he closed the door behind him before she could think of anything else to warn him about.

Percy sighed and shook his head as he took the stairs down to the lobby of his apartment building. He couldn't really blame her he supposed. Ever since his 'abduction' she had been worrying and fussing over him constantly. Percy felt like he was five years old again every time his mother checked his room before she went to her own at nights, he was allowed out but had a strict curfew (not that there was any reason he would really go out anyways) and if he went anywhere- anywhere at all- he was to call herself or Paul or leave a note where they could easily find it.

He walked out of the building onto the sidewalk and turned left. Just a couple of blocks to the store, then he could come right back like he had promised.

He passed a couple of people on his walk. A couple who looked only a year or two younger than Percy himself were sitting on the bench holding hands and whispering to each other. A businessman who was dressed in a fancy suit and carrying a briefcase clutched tightly in hand. And an elderly couple, who walked across the street holding hands.

Percy watched them for a couple of seconds, thinking of himself and Annabeth, before he moved on.

He and Annabeth would be like that one day. Maybe not exactly- Percy sure hoped he never needed a cain like that old man had been using, and he was sure Annabeth would never be as hunched over- but he hoped they could grow old together. In fact somewhere deep down he knew they would. Somehow. Despite the fighting, the hardships and everything in between that had happened to them, Percy knew somehow they would survive it together. They had beat titans and giants, had walked through Tartarus and survived. There was nothing they couldn't do if they were together.

He smiled to himself. He was going to marry that girl. He didn't know when, wasn't even sure if Annabeth ever wanted to get married, but he knew he would. Who cared how? Percy just wanted to make sure everybody knew that she was his and he was hers. He wanted it official and on paper. He could wait if he had to but he would make sure it would happen. Someday.

He shook his head at himself before turning to enter the store. It wasn't much, food and neccesities, but Percy found that he and his parents did most of their shopping here.

He went in, nodding at the cashier and headed to the fresh foods aisle, grabbing a basket as he did so.

He surveyed the vegetables and fruits and got the list from his pocket, looking to see what was on there as he did so.

He got the items in the order they were written, Carrots, onion, apples and a few banannas, grapes, blue berries... Eventually he made it away from the fresh produce to the soups, to baking supplies. Finally he got to bathroom/hygiene products.

"Toothpaste, deoderant, head and shoulders," he muttered to himself before his eyes went wide and he froze after reading the final, hastily scribbled words on the bottom of the list.

Feminine Sanitary Products.

Oh gods.

He almost dropped his extra fresh colgate toothpaste.

No. He sure as Hades was not ready for this. Never before had he been sent on this task- almost unheard of for a boy who lived with only his mother for 14 years before finally getting another guy around. He hadn't even had to get these for Annabeth so Percy couldn't help it when his face went beet red.

He glanced both ways down the aisle, silently thanking every god he could name that nobody else was there. Hurriedly he stuffed the list back in his pocket (out of sight, out of mind?) and headed to the middle of the aisle.

After several minutes of just standing there Percy sighed, frustrated. ADHD was bad for situations like this but Percy's embarrasment was smothering it at the moment.

The.. stuff... was right there. Right in front of him in with brightly coloured labels staring him in the face. It seemed to Percy there was a sign above his head with neon flashing lights blinking that said PERCY JACKSON IS HERE! with an arrow pointing. His face was probably a permanent stain of red.

How did women do this? There were so many brands... and besides which... things... did his mom like to use?

Oh no! Ugh, he did not just think of that. Percy scrunched up his face. He did not want to think of his mom using either a pad or a tampon. Ew. Gross.

Shouldn't she be done this by now, Percy thought annoyed. His mom was pretty old, right? 34 should be early enough to stop... her cycle.

Percy almost gagged. Gross. Worse than cleaning pegasi droppings, this probably counted as the most ebarrasing, gross experience of his life.

So he stood there, trying to read the labels and determine which product to get, for around 10 minutes. He squinted and leaned forwards and after a few minutes more he was about to just grab one and run but he heard the squeak of grocery cart wheels.

Oh gods, he felt his face drain of blood and a horrified expression come on it. Please no...

But everyone knows the gods loved to torment Percy Jackson. And they did just that.

A man and his family wheeled a trolley around- to point right down the aisle Percy was currently standing.

Styx. Mother Hera.

The man had thinning brown hair, wrinkles and laugh lines on his face, and brown eyes. He looked about 5'11 or so. His wife was blonde, looked to be a few years younger than her husband at around 40, and was in the middle of saying something to her husband while he nodded, looking completely and utterly bored.

There was 2 children. A boy who looked to be about 6 or 7 and a teenage girl who was chewing gum, texting on her phone and tapping her foot impatiently. She looked like she was 14.

"Dad," the girl whined, "Jacob said he wanted to hang out tonight. Can you please tell mom to hurry up?"

Her dad smiled down at her affectionately before raising an eyebrow. "Why can't you."

The girl sighed and popped her gum. "I tried. She doesn't listen to me."

Her dad studied her a second or so before turning to his wife. "Haley," he called, "hurry up dear, would you?"

"Of course honey!" Haley called back while studying different hair conditioners. "Just a second."

The dad nodded and looked back to his daughter. "There, happy?"

His daughter stared from him to her mother and back again incredulously before shaking her head. Percy couldn't be sure but he thought he heard a muttered "whipped," come from her mouth.

The boy was tugging on his mom's hand. "Mommy," he whined, "I need shaving cream."

His mom was distracted enough to glance at him. "Jamie you are 6 years old. Why on earth would you need shaving cream?"

The boy pouted. "Daddy uses it all the time and he said I couldn't because only men use it. I wanna be a man, mommy, I want shaving cream!"

Percy stifled a laugh as he watched Nathan's mother's eyes shoot towards her husband. But her husband wasn't watching her.

No, the father was staring directly at Percy.

And when his eyes met Percy's, Percy suddenly felt that this guy looked errily familiar.

Those eyes... they brought bad feelings. Frustration, anger and boredom.

"Lydia stay with your mother and Jamie," the father spoke to his daughter who didn't even look up from her phone. "I just need to check something."

The girl made a sound of acknowledgement and kept texting while her father, without looking away from Percy, started moving towards him.

He racked his brains. Was this some monster he had encountered in the past? A god maybe?

"Excuse me," the man said when he was a few feet away. "Do I know you?"

Percy met his eyes again and suddenly he knew where he had seen this man before.

"No." Percy said, trying to avoid jogging the man's memory. "I don't think so."

"Ah," the man said but his voice made Percy think he didn't believe him. "I'm sorry, it must be my mistake. I'm a teacher you see, so I know quite a few young gentlemen like yourself."

Percy nodded and tried to smile. "Of course, it's no problem," he said hoping to end the conversation.

But the man stayed where he was. He watched Percy for a second or two before nodding to the shelves in front of him. "Need some help?"

"Oh," Percy blushed and scratched the back of his neck anxiously. "Well..."

The man's eyes twinkled humourfully. "Ever done this before?"

Percy hesitated before shaking his head. "My mom's busy so..."

The man glanced at him curiously before nodding, something in his eyes changing to look eerily like certainty. "Well I've had to do this once or twice for my wife in the years so I know what it's like."

Percy shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. "Uh huh."

Mr. Nicoll nodded before looking back. "Haley!" He called. "Come help this young man out!"

Haley looked up at them before hurriedly grabbing a conditioner bottle and making her way over to them. She smiled at Percy and placed the bottle in their cart before looking up at her husband. "Really Nathan, you couldn't have helped him yourself?"

Mr. Nicoll shrugged. "It takes a woman to know what a woman wants."

Haley sighed and shook her head. "You're embarassing the poor boy," she said and Percy blushed harder. Her eyes roved over all the products in front of them before her hand shot out to grab one. "There you go dear," she said kindly, "don't mind my husband, he has a wicked sense of humor."

Percy nodded, blushing again. He muttered a thank you before stuffing the items in the basket he was carrying and moving to walk around the family.

"Mr. Jackson?" Mr. Nicoll called from behind him.

Percy cringed and froze before turning around. He cleared his throat. "Yes, sir?"

Mr. Nicoll smiled and dipped his head slightly. "Although it wasn't the nicest thing I've ever been called," he started and Percy cringed internally, waiting for the scolding sure to follow, "you made excellent use of English vocabulary when you called me 'an old sot'." The man frowned slightly before smiling again. "I'm happy to see how much you've changed."

While that was an insult as well as a compliment Percy couldn't help but relax and smile. "Thank you, sir." He hesitated, looking back to Haley who was watching him with a sparkle in her eyes and Jamie and Lydia who were watching him with curiosity in theirs. "You have a lovely family."

Percy's old teacher from Yancy Academy smiled and nodded. "Take care, Percy."

Percy nodded and walked to the cashier, only looking back once to see Jamie once again whining to his mom and Lydia begging her dad for something.

A smile crossed Percy's face. While seeing his old teacher had been strange, it was nice to see him with a family. It made him seem more... human somehow.

And when Percy got home his mom rushed up to him. "Oh thank gods, honey, I was getting worried! I'm sorry I didn't specify which..." She broke off, noticing the bag of tampons amidst the other groceries. "You got them," Sally sounded surprised. "But, how did you know...?"

Percy shrugged, dumping the bags on the counter. "Takes a woman to know what a woman wants." He said before kissing his mom on the cheek and heading to go take a shower before the dinner party.

Leaving poor Sally Jackson with the most surprised and confused look on her face.

**oooOOOooo**

**So I tried to add some humor into this one! Did it work? Review and let me know!**

**Hope you liked it!**

**Love you all!**

**Percyjacksonfan3**


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